Chapter 147. Treating Rai and the Broken Lead
After speaking with Moaning Myrtle, Adrian Wesson had learned almost nothing useful.
This fragile, sensitive young ghost was rather neurotic; she would start talking and then slide into self-pity, saying all sorts of random things.
The topic would drift off course in no time.
In the end, she shot into a cubicle, shut the door, and did not show herself again.
Wesson had no choice but to leave her be for now and wait until she calmed down before trying again.
Next, he began checking every tap in the lavatory.
He remembered that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was marked by a special tap.
At last, in a corner, he found a bronze tap with a small snake engraved along its side.
Wesson crouched and examined the unusual tap closely.
It looked as though it had gone unused for years; no water would flow from it.
This, it seemed, was the entrance to the Chamber.
However, although he had found the entrance, Wesson did not speak Parseltongue and therefore could not open it.
Of course, even if he could get into the Chamber, it would likely do little good.
He might even startle the culprit and put them on their guard.
That was the last thing Wesson wanted.
For now, his primary goal was to find the person who had released the Basilisk, not to deal with the serpent itself.
So Wesson prepared a Chinese Chomping Cabbage to act as a watcher.
[Type: Chinese Chomping Cabbage]
[Trait: Parasitic]
After casting a Shrinking Charm on the Chinese Chomping Cabbage, Wesson tucked it into the crack beside the tap.
"Listen," Wesson whispered to the shrunken Chinese Chomping Cabbage, "pay close attention to anything nearby. If anyone comes close to this tap or makes strange noises near it, sneak onto that person."
The Chinese Chomping Cabbage wobbled to show it understood.
With that done, Wesson gave the lavatory a final once-over.
At some point, Moaning Myrtle had drifted out again. She was perched on the washbasin, kicking her legs and peering at Wesson in puzzlement. "What are you doing, Professor?"
"A little precaution," Wesson said to Moaning Myrtle.
Moaning Myrtle tilted her head, confused—and suddenly began sobbing again.
At that, Wesson could only shake his head helplessly and leave the lavatory.
Moaning Myrtle was that sort of ghost; after becoming one, her urge to cry seemed to have been magnified without limit.
Honestly, Wesson felt very sorry for her.
She was only an innocent victim.
It was precisely because the Basilisk killed Moaning Myrtle that Lord Voldemort had succeeded in making his first Horcrux.
Truly… infuriating.
What sort of person could so calmly take the life of someone who had nothing to do with them?
Wesson couldn't understand.
Nor did he want to.
After placing the Chinese Chomping Cabbage, Wesson returned every few days to check whether it had encountered anything out of the ordinary.
However, the Basilisk and the one who released it seemed to have vanished, making no further moves.
Naturally, the Chinese Chomping Cabbage had obtained no information either.
The trail had gone cold.
Wesson could only wait and hope that, once Rai recovered, he might provide something useful.
A week later.
In the plantation.
Wesson stood before the petrified Rai, a bottle of greenish potion in his hand.
After a week of brewing, the antidote targeting the Basilisk's Petrification magic was finally complete.
"I hope this works," Wesson murmured, carefully pouring the potion over Rai.
As the draught slowly seeped in, fine cracks appeared on the statue's surface.
The cracks multiplied; suddenly, the stone flaked away like an eggshell, revealing soft feathers beneath.
Rai gave a clear, ringing cry and snapped his wings open, the light of life returning to his eyes.
"Rai!" Wesson spread his arms in delight.
Restored, Rai launched himself at him and affectionately rubbed Wesson's cheek with his beak.
"Thank goodness…."
The moment he saw Rai recover from Petrification, Wesson let out a long breath.
It was fortunate that Rai had some resistance to the Basilisk's magic. Had it been any other creature, under the serpent's direct gaze there would have been almost no chance of survival.
"Rai, can you tell me what happened before you were petrified?" Wesson asked, stroking Rai's head as he spoke.
He knew Rai could understand him.
However, Wesson could not understand the Thunderbird's language.
Rai called for a long while, even resorting to gestures, but Wesson still couldn't make out what he meant.
"Wait!" Wesson suddenly remembered something and strode towards the storeroom.
A few minutes later, he emerged with a book in his hands.
The cover read: Seventeen Translations of the Thunderbird Language.
Roskin had sent it to him earlier—hopefully it would help.
Wesson opened Seventeen Translations of the Thunderbird Language in front of Rai; its pages were blank.
As Rai's cries reached the paper, words slowly surfaced on the empty pages.
That was the function of this book: it converted a Thunderbird's calls into written speech.
From the words on the page, Wesson learned what had happened when Rai was petrified:
Rai had been skylarking above Hogwarts Castle. When he came over the courtyard, he suddenly saw a yellowish eye glinting in the darkness.
In fact, Rai had sensed it then—that eye was extremely dangerous. Unfortunately, the Basilisk's Petrification magic took effect in an instant. By the time Rai came to himself, there was no time left.
What followed was simple: Rai was petrified by the Basilisk and plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground.
Fortunately, even petrified, Rai's body remained very sturdy and suffered no damage.
After that, he remembered nothing.
Having learned how it happened, Wesson fell into thought.
Could it really have been just an accident?
The Basilisk went out for a wander, and Rai just happened to run into it.
Even so, the Basilisk had indeed been let out by someone—and as for the person who released it, Rai had no impression at all. He had noticed no other creature present.
And thus the trail broke off again.
Afterwards, Wesson ordered Rai to come home earlier each day and not to roam the grounds at night.
Rai nodded readily; he had no wish to experience being turned into a statue again.
The next day, Harry and the others noticed Rai flying over Hogwarts as if nothing had happened and immediately ran to Wesson's office to ask about it.
"As you can see," Wesson said to the three of them, "Rai is fine now."
"Brilliant," Harry exhaled in relief. "Hermione's found some information about the Chamber of Secrets—we were just coming to tell you."
"Sit down and tell me," Wesson said with a wave, and three chairs in the corner slid up to the desk.
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